Websites that changed the web

Did you know some early websites which re-invented how we play and interact online? Check out the these web pioneers that changed the way web works. (Photo credit: AFP Relaxnews)

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ANTIROM – 1994Agency: Antirom. Designed: Andy Allenson, Joel Baumann, Andy Cameron, Rob LeQuesne, Luke Pendrell, Sophie Pendrell, Andy Polaine, Anthony Rodgers, Nicolas Roope, Tom Roope, Joe Stephenson, Jason Tame. Built in: Director 5 The London-based Antirom art collective was established with the “radical vision to explore interaction as a media in its own right rather than as an interface for content.” Their vision changed the face of interactive design by encouraging users to strike up an active relationship with the computer.

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HEAD-SPACE – 1997Agency: Head New Media. Developed by: Jason Holland, Felix Velarde, John Lundberg, Matthew Glubb. Built in: HTML 3.2, Director 5 Britain's answer to The Blue Dot was an online community called Head-Space. The collaborative online site promoted creative expression and incubated prominent ‘90s websites including community-focused Urban 75, interactive art project circlemakers.org and most notably, the interactive game “Slap a Spice Girl.” (AFP)

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MODERN LIVING – 1998Modern Living. Developed by: Han Hoogerbrugge. Built in: GIF, Flash 3 Dutchman Han Hoogerbrugge turned his comic strip into a series of looping GIFs in 1998 on his website Modern Living. The animations soon became interactive Flash-based artworks and detailed Hoogerbrugge’s ongoing battle with modern life. (AFP)

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NOODLEBOX – 1997Agency: PlayCreate. Designed by: Daniel Brown. Built in: Director 6 Daniel Brown infused his website Noodlebox with playful, immersive computer games, making it stand out from other websites of the time. The interactive landscape of building blocks and computer game experiments was entirely created using multimedia software Adobe Director and now appears in the San Francisco MOMA and the Victoria and Albert Museum. (AFP)

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PS2.PRAYSTATION– 2000Agency: Joshua Davis Studio. Developed by: Joshua Davis. Built in: Flash 4 After unsuccessfully attempting to publish children’s books, Joshua Davis turned to the web, creating “an experimental personal site of digital exploration” called PrayStation that would change the face of interactive design forever. PrayStation was one of the first sites to provide its source files free. (AFP)

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REQUIEM FOR A DREAM – 2000Agency: Hi-ReS!. Designed by: Alexandra Jugovic and Florian Schmitt. Built in: Flash 4.0 Design agency Hi-ReS! created the website for the film 'Requiem for a Dream.' Like the movie, the website delved into the cinematic landscape and investigated online behaviors such as addiction, gambling and compulsion. “As the user descends deeper into the malfunctioning website, it gradually deteriorates and finally falls apart, ejecting the visitor in its death throes.” (AFP)

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THE BLUE DOT – 1995Agency: Razorfish. Designed and curated by: Craig Kanarick. Built in: HTML 2.0, Director 5 (Shockwave), Real Audio Digital agency Razorfish entered into internet history by creating the first animated website. The website utilized the server-push GIF-animation capabilities of Netscape Navigator 1.1 and featured a bouncing blue dot. “Razorfish founders Jeffrey Dachis and Craig Kanarick followed this milestone with one of the first online art galleries, The Blue Dot,” a site that is now in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (AFP)

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WORD.COM – 1995Organisation: Word Magazine. Edited by: Marisa BoweDesigned by: Yoshi Sodeoka. Built in: HTML 2.0, Director 5 (Shockwave), Real Audio Word.com became one of the most influential e-zines on the web by offering its readers a multimedia experience while most of its rivals were still recreating the print magazine format online. The website incorporated games, audio and chat. The e-zine also featured the Shockwave game SiSSYFiGHT, which is often cited as being one of the first examples of massively multiplayer online games. (AFP)

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THE PROJECT – 1991Organization: CERN. Designed by: Tim Berners-Lee. Built in: HTML 1.0 It all began at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in March of 1989. In 1990 Berners-Lee realized The Project by creating a browser-editor that ran on the now obsolete NeXTStep Operating System. He called it the WorldWideWeb.